Right along Route 202, residents of Granby head to the Earlee Mug. The restaurant has its regulars, but it also has a core group that calls it home.

"We have a group of eight guys that come in every morning without fail Monday thru Sunday. This is their little meet-up in the morning before work, hang out, and chat. Most come for lunch too," said Jennifer Roberts with Earlee Mug.

The town of Granby is celebrating it's 250th anniversary this year.

In the early days, Granby - as we know it now - was part of South Hadley. A difference in religion led town leaders to split off.

The name Granby wasn't the founders original choice.

"The town wanted Warren. Way back then, you had to ride a horse to get to Boston and they didn't make it in time. The town of Warren received the name Warren and we received Granby," said Micheline Turgeon with Granby's 250th Celebration.

Since then, "we've grown so much because we are over 6,000 people now...We were more cows than people. Now, we're more people than cows," Turgeon added.

Turgeon said that she's proud of her small town roots.

"I defend Granby very much because everyone says, 'Ahh, you're a small town.' Yes, it's a small town that created me and all the values that I see and want to portray in my life and career and how I treat people with kindness and respect. I learned that from this small community," Turgeon explained.

"The Connecticut River valley has beautiful farm land. The soil is some of the best, prime land in the entire world. People have been farming in this community for generations. As a farmer, I'm trying to connect people with the land that we all rely on for our life. Everyone has to eat," said Sarah Voilard, co-owner of Red Fire Farm.

Granby has always supported its local farmers.

"It takes everyone to have a local food system...all together we are making it happen," Voilard said.

Granby is also proud of its local veterans.

The Mathew Vieu Memorial Fund was created to remember a solider who fought bravely overseas, but lost his battle to PTSD.

"Matt was always the life of the party. He always try to make people laugh and make them feel good about themselves. We did notice a change in him. He'd have flashbacks," said Crystal Dufresne.

Now, even in death, Lance Corporal Vieu is helping his brothers and sister in uniform.

"If little things that we can do help alleviate that or push them in the right direction, that's what we strive for," John McNally added.

We has a surprise. Because of the effort they put into remember Mathew, we wanted to help them help as many veterans as possible.

On behalf of Western Mass News, Big Y, and Diamond RV, we presented the fund a check for $500.

"It feels like we are keeping him alive. We remember him, we are just shining his name out there for everyone," Dufresne said.

Jacob's adventures will take him to nine other communities over the next two weeks. Join us at each location, between 11:30 and 1 p.m., to say hi while we broadcast live: